Startup attempts to seed the world’s first super-map, providing public access to near real-time global satellite, aerial and drone imagery
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Startup attempts to seed the world’s first super-map, providing public access to near real-time global satellite, aerial and drone imagery

August 30, 2019 -- Soar — the geospatial mapping and imagery company on a mission to integrate all the world’s commercial satellite, drone, and aerial imaging into a global super-map — just announced the initial release of its much anticipated online platform.

Google Earth enthusiasts will appreciate Soar’s elevated global mapping capabilities. Soar allows users access to a new generation of up-to-date digital satellite imagery, which previously was only available to specific industry applications. 

Featured Image: Early-2019’s winter-snap over Chicago, Illinois (Sentinel-2).

Soar currently provides access to satellite imagery that ranges from 10m to 30m per pixel resolution, making it ideal for observing large-scale changes in a number of landscapes, ranging from urban areas, forests, farms, mountains, rivers, lakes and more. As the platform grows, Soar seeks to make improvements to provide satellite imagery with resolutions as high as 20cm within the next 12 months.

As well as satellite content, the super-map will integrate imagery sourced from drone owners (drone pilots) around the world, who can earn passive income as the value of their imagery becomes realized. Thus, becoming a one-stop-shop for the collection, distribution, and monetization of mapping imagery from different sensors.

Winter-snap over Chicago & Lake Michigan, January 31, 2019 (Sentinel-2)

“The problem Soar is solving is that almost 80 percent of all mapping imagery is currently accessed through just one channel, which is, for the most part, reserved mostly for niche commercial use. In many cases, the general public only has access to resources which are not updated as frequently. Soar addresses these limitations by generating dynamic, ever-changing data on our platform,” said Soar founder and CEO Amir Farhand.

“Imagery taken by a drone user can be uploaded to social media, and may attract a few likes, or will sit idle on a hard drive. The same image uploaded to Soar contributes content to the seeding of the super-map, providing value to a global community, as well as generating income for the drone pilot.” 

Butte County wildfires, California, November 11, 2018 (Sentinel-2)

Soar’s Head of Growth, Tim Glover added, “imagine if we could re-use that imagery in a way that was totally authentic, collaborative and most importantly, accessible to all. Soar allows anyone to view the Earth from above, meaning it’s easy to observe things like environmental changes, including drought, melting ice caps, industrial growth, natural disasters like volcano eruptions, just to name a few uses. The aim of Soar is to enable anyone to explore and discover our ever-changing world.”

With almost 10 petabytes of data already acquired, Soar is planning additional imagery as part of their growth strategy. Soar has already received several partnership requests from multinational organizations with excess satellite, aerial and drone content from across the globe. In the near future, the platform will also feature additional data streams from higher resolution satellites, aerial imagery providers, as well as both commercial and recreational drone operators globally. 

Snowfall on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, December 14, 2016 (Sentinel-2)

The use of Soar is ideal for a wide range of industries and applications including agriculture, environmental, logistics, mining and insurance. However, since its beta launch in late 2018, the largest area of growth has been news and social media as users share imagery of landscape events from around the world. 

“Perth beach”, Trigg, Western Australia, July 24, 2019 (Colby Bignell)

About Soar

Soar is on a mission to become the one-stop-shop for the collection, distribution, and monetization of mapping imagery from different sensors. By leveraging the latest in satellite and drone technology, Soar is in a class of its own. The company is positioning itself to become the leading platform and marketplace for global mapping needs.

About the Team

Soar was founded in 2017 by Amir Farhand, an entrepreneur with over 15 years of geospatial expertise in bringing innovative geospatial solutions to commercial markets. Soar also boasts a strong leadership team that is headed by Chairman Guy Perkins, former co-founder of aerial imaging companies NearMap and Spookfish. Other key management come from a wide range of industry sectors with varying backgrounds, including the Australian Special Forces, United States Air Force, Lockheed Martin, Rio Tinto, and NBCUniversal & Amblin Entertainment.

For more information, visit  soar.earth 



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